1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to establishing communication between devices in order to facilitate data transfer between the devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exists a need today to transfer data from one device to at least one other device. In order for that transfer to occur, the two devices typically need to communicate with each other. Traditionally, in order to facilitate the data transfer, a direct logical connection (wired or wireless) needs to be established between the devices in question, the communication interfaces on each of the devices need to be configured in order for the devices to actually communicate with each other, and processes on each of the devices are executed to perform the data transfer.
With the advent and evolution of wireless communication technology, the process of data transfer between devices is becoming easier. More specifically, it is becoming easier to transfer the data directly between devices. However, there is still a need for human intervention to set-up the initial communication between the devices before any data transfer can occur. This set-up can include such things as setting the Service Set identifier (SSID) of a Wi-Fi network or the Bluetooth pairing key in one or more devices. The need for human intervention limits the flexibility and efficiency of connecting devices between which data is transferred.
Another drawback to current methods of connecting devices is the lack of being able to do so in an ad-hoc manner. Current methods require that the devices to be connected be on the same network. Thus, the ability to connect a device on one network with another device on different network is either non-existent or complicated.
In light of the above, what is needed is an approach to establishing communication between devices such that little or no human intervention is required and the connection can be established in ad-hoc manner.